The Feeding Season

by Stoyan Stoyanov

Down here, the fog, which enveloped the Shells, was everywhere. Ghostly silhouettes of huge stones floated slowly out of the fog, while the small group walked among them.

  “Let's not go any farther in, OK?” said Yazo

  “Relax, we're just looking for a way around,” replied Bars.

  “If we happen to find some slugs in the meantime, it wouldn't hurt,”Yazo was hoping that they would have luck in finding some food. “This place is even more terrible on an empty stomach.”

  “Conserve your food as much as you can – only take one mouthful every few hours. Who knows when we'll be able to fill-up our food reservoirs again,” warned Bars, who doubted that they would find anything edible in that place.

  Various obstacles popped up in their path, and the boys had already been walking for hours, but there were no slugs anywhere or any path up. When they stopped for a rest, they used the time to examine their suits for damages, caused by the descent on the rocks. Not one of them had any serious damage, which was a miracle, keeping in mind the distance they rolled down the incline.

  As time passed, it began to get dark, and then the fog proved to be a more subtle enemy. Traveling in those conditions was incredibly difficult, even with their searchlights on. Bars led the boys blindly, since he didn't have anything by which to orient himself. It was frightening to walk through such a place, and with every slight sound, their heartbeats raced.

  When they found a good spot for the night, they bunched up together and slept with their searchlights on. Yazo took the first watch. Thirteen's watch passed without any problems and lastly, Bars kept watch over his friends, while they snored in their Shells.

  Once the darkness lifted, Bars understood that it was time to head out.

  “Come on, let's go! Let's use the light while we can.”

  The two sleepy Shells started to move around.

  “What? Is it day already?!” asked Thirteen groggily.

  “It's not going to get any lighter than this. Let's get going, today we're going to get out of here,” Bars said urging them.

  “I agree! Let's get going as quickly as possible,” said Yazo.

  The three boys again headed out led by Bars. Thirteen mumbled something so quietly that only he could hear exactly what he said, and Yazo glanced around at every noise that broke the sinister silence.

  “You know, what? I've gotten completely used to this suit, I'm even able to sleep more at night than I had been able to in the beginning. Only one thing keeps bugging me,” said Thirteen.

  “And what's that?” asked Yazo, who jumped at any chance to have a conversation, since it helped distract him from his fears for a while.

  “Well, when I have an itch somewhere it, it drives me crazy! That's one of the biggest disadvantages of these Shells. Once you’re inside – there's no more scratching.”

  “Tell me about it, you should see what it's like with a beard?” replied the Defender, who unlike the other two boys was already growing quite a beard. “The next generation of suits must have some kind of anti-itch...something. I don't know exactly what, but they should think up something.”

  “It's that way, because the suits are designed by women, but we're the ones who use them,” added Bars. “There are definitely some things that need to be enhanced. That's my opinion, too.”

  “Although, throughout the years there have been many improvements. Every time a Hero has returned to the Fortress and tells of his adventures and problems, they've added innovations to the suit. Our suits aren't bad compared to the older models that the First boys used. We are lucky in comparison,” said Thirteen, who knew the whole history of the suit even up to the last model that they were equipped with.

  “Here's my addition to the suit, when I become a Hero one day. A Suit, in which you are unable to grow a beard, man it's annoying!” laughed Yazo.

  “Good idea,” agreed Thirteen. “Now all that's left is to become Heroes!”

  “Well, why not!” said Yazo excitedly. “We survived the Descent, while a number of the others were eaten by those gigantic tentacles! We survived several days without food and water. And most importantly – we had a close encounter with strange Shells, who on top of everything else we beat! Don't we deserve to become Heroes?”

  The three boys quietly contemplated their dreams for a while.

  “Especially because of that last reason, they need to take us back into the Fortress. That's something that hasn't been recorded until now in the Textbook. It turns out that there are other people on this planet, even though they are hostile. Yes! Just now, after we have escaped from them, do I fully realize what that means. We have to succeed in making it back somehow,...only, I don't know where to go right now,” said Bars and stopped.

  Before them, the land looked different – the surface was soaked in some kind of liquid, resulting in a sticky, orange-colored mud.

  “Do we go forward or do we turn back and try to take a different path,” Bars thought out loud. His suit had stepped into the soft dirt.

  “What's this?!” asked Yazo frightened. “Why is it in that color?”

  “That's the swamp, just as it's described in the Textbook. It looks dangerous, but there's nothing to fear, the mud doesn't rust metal,” said Thirteen and bravely stepped in next to Bars. “It's strange! You can feel how soft the ground is even through your suit.”

  “Are you sure that it's safe?” Yazo still didn't dare enter it.

  “Absolutely!” said Thirteen urging him to join them. “The group that found the swamp went quite far into it, wading in this same mud.”

  Bars continued to look around, but from here on out there wasn't any hard surfaces on which to walk, so if they wanted to continue on they would have to get dirty.

  “Are we going to wade in then?” he asked his fellow travelers.

  “Since we've come this far – we're not going to give up!” Thirteen ensured him.

  “If it gets too deep, we'll head back, won't we?” asked Yazo, but once he saw that the others had headed out, he waded in after them.

  The sensation was truly different. The suits' metal feet sank into the softened dirt with every step, sliding a little, and then leaving a dark hole that quickly filled with liquid. Sometimes the mud splattered about them and the orange color covered the dark rocks that the boys went passed. When the level of the mud reached their knee joints, it became quite difficult to walk and their pace slowed noticeably. With their arms stretched out, the boys tried to keep their balance, as they walked through the slippery mess. They slowly but stubbornly made progress. If they succeeded in making it out of that swamp, there was hope that they might return to the Fortress victorious.

  “Any chance that slugs might live here, Bars?” asked Yazo, whose stomach had started to grumble long ago.

  “I don't know,... maybe, some kind of slug might exist in this swamp, but the question is whether they're edible,” replied the Hunter.

  “I'd be willing to try, if you happen to find any!” laughed Yazo.

  “Hey, quiet! Did you hear that?” said Thirteen suddenly.

  Bars and Yazo stopped and looked back at him questioningly, perking up their ears.

  “I don't hear anything,” said Bars.

  “I heard something, I'm sure of it! There somewhere behind us!”

  “What exactly did you hear?” asked Bars intrigued. “Sometimes there are rocks that fall, you know?”

  “I know that! This was something else, not a rock!” Thirteen said excitedly. “It sounded like a voice – a human voice!”

  “It's not possible!” Bars got goosebumps. “Who else would be roaming around this place?!”

  “I don't want to be at the back!” Yazo quickly waded through the mud to reach his friends, who were turning their heads to listen in all directions.

  “Don't make so much noise!” Bars told him. “Let's stop here for a while. In this fog, if someone is following us we'll hear them long before we see them.”
/>   It was quiet and gray all around them. The three boys stood there alert for several minutes, but they were the only prodigal souls in that disgusting place. Once they had assured themselves that there wasn't anyone else, Yazo calmed down, but still encouraged them to walk together.

  “Don't walk so fast. My Shell is sinking more than yours, because I'm heavier and walking is that much more difficult. It turns out that you’re lucky that you didn't collect any metal.”

  “Quiet! We still need to be on the alert,” Bars interrupted him.

  The depth of the orange-colored mud kept increasing and now their suits were in up to their waists. In those conditions, each step was a little battle, which sucked the boys' strength. Bars tested to see where it would be easier to go, and the other two followed stepping in his steps, splashing the mud. Meter after meter, they waded through the thick fog.

  “Ugh, it's so hard...,” complained Yazo.

  The swamp ahead of them didn't promise to be any easier. Before Bars only feared this place, but now he also hated it. It was a real nightmare for any guide, who sought to find a way through it. The scattered rocks that stuck up and were unclimbable, all looked pretty much alike making them unfit to orient by. The fog restricted their vision, while the mud limited their free movement. While they fought with these terrible conditions, Bars wondered, why the first group, which had reached this place, had even thought to enter into the swamp. What had forced them to enter it such an inhospitable place? Was it scientific curiosity, even though it was a dangerous area? Maybe they just got lost? If the only survivor, who had returned to the Fortress, had lived only one more day, maybe then they would have known the whole story. But now Bars could only guess and hope that they wouldn't share the first group's fate.

  “Hey, do you hear that?” Thirteen said stopping them again.

  From the fog drifted in a far-way and completely unknown sound.

  “Yes!” confirmed Bars. “What in the world is that?”

  “Do you really want to find out?” asked Yazo surprised.

  “I was just wondering...,” replied Bars.

  “Guys, let's get out of this damned place already! Shouldn't we have found a way out by now?” stated the Defender again hurrying them on.

  “I don't want to be slogging through this disgusting mud anymore either. Sometimes it feels like something is moving underneath it!” added Thirteen.

  The boys kept nervously looking around because strange things constantly kept attracting their attention. Their movement forward continued to be slow and difficult, and Bars was no longer sure of what way they should take. He simply walked in the direction that his eyes were looking and kept hoping that they would find some dry ground, as soon as possible. His friends followed him, without suspecting, that he had lost his way long ago, but it was best they didn't know. Why did all three of them have to worry about it?

  “We just need to keep going,” said Bars out of breath. “We have to reach the end of this swamp sometime.”

  “What if there is no end to it? Isn't that its name – the Endless Swamp, and not the Extremely Large Swamp or the Almost Endless Swamp,” Yazo said expressing his doubts, as he made a huge effort to keep up with the others.

  “Everything has an end, even this damned place and we're going to prove it. And when we return to the Fortress, the first thing that we're going to do is to change its name in the Textbook!” replied Bars.

  “I'll think of a name! I'll start right now!” the Defender was visibly impressed with the idea and soon fell deep into his thoughts.

  “Let me give you a little help,” suggested Thirteen. “Maybe we should call it – the Disgusting Sticky Swamp! Quite appropriate don't you think?”

  “No! It's too weak and it doesn't completely express the truth about this place. I think it has to be something like – Disgusting Dirty Sticky Hated Rotting Foggy Impenetrable Bogtrous!” Yazo nodded his head in confirmation upon finishing. “It needs just a little more to fill it in completely...”

  “Bogtrous?” Thirteen wasn't quite clear about the last word.

  “Well, it isn't just a normal swamp, it's the monster of swamps. The most horrible and most frightening of all,” explained Yazo. “That's why we must make-up and apply a new word, which expresses its unique character.”

  “True, although it's a difficult word to remember!” confessed Thirteen a little dazed.

  While he made his way through the sticky slimy mass, Bars thought of many more appropriate words, which he would like to add to the new name – fatiguing, despairing, confusing, lifeless and so many more. Each one fully described the place that the three boys were roaming through.

  Suddenly amid the bluish fog, Bars was able to make out some silhouettes.

  “Halt!” he commanded.

  Thirteen and Yazo did as he commanded and immediately they saw the danger. Only a few meters in front of them, just at edge of their visibility, several suits stood waiting in ambush. They obviously had noticed them first, that's why the other suits just stood there waiting for the boys to draw near.

  “Wonderful! What now?” whispered Thirteen.

  “Quiet! They might hear us, if they haven’t seen us yet,” Bars reprimanded him.

  The two groups stood there waiting to see who would make the first move. Bars was certain that he could definitely see three Shells, but farther back in the fog might be others.

  “Ah, this is bad! There's no way we’re getting out of this one!” Yazo started to step back, even though he had been warned to stay quiet, but Bars stopped him.

  “Shut up and don't make any more movements, do you understand?!”

  The three suits in front of them stood still. Several tense minutes passed in that way, but nothing changed.

  “What are they doing? Why are they standing there just waiting for us? Haven't they understood that we've seen them?” Thirteen dared ask.

  “They don't see us!” replied Bars. “And they don't see us because they're dead!”

  “Oh, that's good for us!” Yazo finally could take a breath after several heart wrenching minutes of waiting for the inevitable.

  “These suits are from the first group that reached the swamp?” Thirteen wondered.

  Carefully stepping forward, Bars went far enough forward to make sure that there wasn't any danger. The three Shells had been lifeless for a long time, covered in dried mud and filth.

  “They're very old!” noted Thirteen, who was looking over the unconventional parts.

  “And are they from the Fortress?” Bars asked intrigued.

  “They're definitely from the Fortress. Second generation suits – they weren't very good suits.”

  “What did they die from?” asked Yazo, who didn't dare come very close.

  “I don't see any exterior damage,” replied Thirteen. “They were either sick or worn out, who knows? If some of their air filters had been blocked, which had been a frequent problem back then, maybe they suffocated.”

  “Do we continue on?” suggested Bars.

  “Oh, yes!” Yazo wasn't burning with desire to stay near these old suits, dead for who knows how long.

  Unfortunately for him from this point on, ghostly Shells were a common sight. The sinister silhouettes popped up without warning all around the boys, while they continued on in the disgusting mud. Bars tried to find a way around that area in order to avoid the unpleasant sight, but it was as if they were everywhere.

  “Disgusting! How many of them are there! And they're all dead!” Yazo said irritated.

  “Over 50 people have died in this swamp, but it's seems like there are more than that,” said Thirteen gloomily.

  The fog swallowed some of them only to reveal others, each and every one of them a statue of death. There were some, who had fallen down and only the upper part of their suits showed above the mud.

  “There's dry ground ahead!” said Bars, once he noticed the dark protrusion above the mud, right in
front of them. And for the first time in many hours, Bars felt a little relieved. The feel of hard, stable ground under one's feet was quite calming. The stable gait of the metal suits on dry ground was preferable to swaying and stumbling in the deep mud, where one wrong step could leave you with a filthy Shell, covered in all kinds of disgusting stuff. Now they could move forward at a normal speed, without slowing down or wasting unnecessary energy fighting the sticky mud.

  “I hope that from here on out, we have more dry ground,” said Yazo hopefully, while he twirled around causing slimy filth to slowly fall off his Shell.

  “No breaks – let's keep going!” said Thirteen. “Wherever that is”…

  The fog, which had been hanging over the ground for days, seemed to become even thicker. Visibility fell drastically and Bars could see only a few meters ahead of him, which stressed him out more. At certain intervals a mysterious, far-away sound would reach them, which they couldn't get used to, especially since they were roaming around in this place.

  “Where's the sun now?” wondered Yazo. “How I would like for its rays to cut through this thick fog once for all!”

  “Quiet, man! We need to be more careful!” said the irritated Bars interrupting him. “We're too far into the swamp, we'll probably not see the sun for a while yet.”

  “OK! It's just that that noise is driving me crazy! If I talk about something, it doesn't seem to be so piercing,” replied Yazo, then he began to murmur something under his breath.

  The dry ground soon sunk once again into a thick layer of mud and the boys were forced to slog through it again. The terrain continued to change and the wet areas alternated with dry, rocky ones. Bars tried to find easier passages as much as possible, but the thick fog made it impossible. They went where luck took them.

  “Three hundred shriveled slugs!” Bars said almost screaming, when he almost ran into another empty Shell.

  “Oh, not again! I thought that we had left those unlucky bastards behind!” stated Yazo, who had no love for these menacing meetings.

  “It jumped out unexpectedly in front of me! I didn't see it at all! I just about walked right into it!” Bars walked around it but only a few meters away was another one.

  “Damn it! That's enough already!” Thirteen also didn't take any joy in the fact that they were surrounded by these malevolent remains. “Soon night will fall, and these corpses are all around us!”

  “These are more frightening than the others! And what's that dried disgusting stuff on them?” noted Yazo.

  The ancient Shells had died in different poses. They hadn't froze in place as calmly as the others that they had left behind in the mud. These unlucky bastards apparently had fought for their lives until the final moment, without any chance of escape. The farther they walked among them, the more sinister the remains looked.

  “That's enough! I want you to get us out of this disgusting swamp now, Bars!” yelled Yazo.

  “Calm down! Now's not the time to panic!” Thirteen tried to calm him down, while Bars desperately sought the right direction.

  “Well, I think that now is the perfect time to panic and that's exactly what I'm going to do! I can't take this any longer! I've had it up to here!” said Yazo holding his hand to his forehead.

  “Quiet! There's no need to yell!” replied Bars.

  “Yelling calms me down, Bars! Why should I stop?! And are you calm? Do you have any idea where we’re going? Who could in this impenetrable fog! Nobody, at least admit it!”

  “We'll be okay, just let me think! I'm sure we'll come up with something,” replied Bars, but Yazo's piercing voice echoed deep into his head.

  “We should have gotten out of here a long time ago! You promised! Look around, it's only getting worse and weren't not likely to find a way out soon, especially since we began following you!”

  The Defender was mad with fear and he was cursing everyone and everything. Thirteen gave up trying to reason with him, since it wasn't having any effect. Yazo didn't have any desire to stop yelling anytime soon. Bars knew that the only way to calm him down was to find an alternate route as quickly as possible, far from these dead Shells, but no matter which way they went, death had left its mark.

  After they had roamed for several hours, and Yazo had filled their heads with his desperate ravings, the rocky surface that they had been tiredly walking on sank a little into the orange-colored mud.

  “Come here. There's no remains here in the mud,” suggested Bars.

  Thirteen joined him and both of them began to slide through the disgusting liquid. But the rampant Defender was of a different opinion.

  “Mud again? You didn't find the right way out again, did you?”

  “The dead Shells are only on the rocks. Come here – there's none here! Isn't that what you wanted?” said Bars dumbfounded.

  “You don't understand anything! I want to get out of this place immediately! I don't want to see anymore mud, fog, or damned dead Shells! I want to see the sun! I'm not going to slog through that muck anymore! Come back here and find us a normal passage! That's how we'll get out of here sooner!”

  “Come over here by us and stop being a fool! Those Shells over there aren't a good sign,” Thirteen said inviting him to follow them, but the Defender was being stubborn.

  “Cowards! We waded into this cursed place, instead of fighting, and look what it's got us! You roll around in that disgusting mud, while I walk up here like a normal human being!” and Yazo started to walk among the Shells, hitting those nearest him with such strength and hatred, that they broke into pieces.

  “Come down here! Leave those Shells alone! What you're doing isn't right!” Bars said to him, while Thirteen made his way through the swamp.

  Yazo's hits became more and more savage. He kicked and smashed every ancient Shell that was in his path and he began to look even more fierce than they did. With each destructive blow, he fell into an ecstasy and his yells filled the area, until they suddenly stopped.

  “What now?” Thirteen asked surprised.

  Yazo looked feverishly at the ground around him and waved his arms around in a strange manner.

  “I can't move! I'm stuck in something!” replied Yazo also surprised, his anger quickly evaporating. “There's some kind of ooze on the ground.”

  “What are you talking about? Let me see,” said Bars and headed toward the Defender.

  “No! You better stay there!” Yazo warned him. “It's everywhere and it's terribly sticky. I'll try to get out of it on my own.”

  But as hard as he tried, his suit wouldn't budge a millimeter. He was stuck to the spot. The boys wading in the mud watched on as their friend struggled to get free, but there was no escaping it.

  “Damn it! I didn't expect this!” snorted Yazo, who was trying with his last ounce of strength to get free, but he was unable to free himself from the strange trap.

  “Great! What are we to do now?” asked Thirteen.

  “I have no idea. I've never seen it before,” replied Bars gloomily.

  “I don't like this at all! More of this ooze has stuck to my suit! Uuugh!” The Defender gave up and stood still, breathing heavily.

  The situation wasn't good at all. Neither Bars, nor Thirteen could get close to their comrade, and they didn't have anything on hand that they could use to, at least, try and pull him out of it. All they could do was to stand there waiting to see if the stickiness of the ooze would weaken with the passing of time. But no one knew how long that would take. And just standing there in the middle of nowhere was not a good idea.

  Then something made a sound somewhere behind Yazo. And a second latter, one of the rocks that until now had been standing still moved slightly. The boys stared with wide open eyes and froze in place.

  “Something's happening!” warned the frightened Yazo.

  “We see it! Stay still and don't yell!” Bars told him.

  “Think of something! I have to get out of here!” th
e Defender turned helplessly in place.

  The strange rock moved again and started to lift up. The dirt and pebbles that had covered it started to slide off of it and amid the cloud of dust protruded an unknown being. Its long body was colored in red and black splotches, and on top of it was attached a solid shell with sharp spikes.

  “What is that horrible thing?!” yelled Yazo in disgust.

  The hug armored slug slowly, but surely began to move toward Yazo, leaving behind it on the rock more of the dark, sticky ooze.

  “It's coming over here!” the Defender started to make desperate attempts to escape once again, even though it was completely impossible.

  “It's totally covered in glue! How do we stop it!” fretted Thirteen.

  While the huge pest approached its stuck prey, Bars stood there sunk in mud. He knew that Yazo had no way of getting out of there by himself, and both he and Thirteen couldn't help him. They were completely useless.

  “Hey, don't leave me like this! What should I do!?” yelled Yazo, who was already desperate.

  “Get out of your Shell!” said Bars.

  “What are you saying?” Thirteen couldn't believe his ears. “He'll suffocate outside his Shell!”

  “No! Do something, damn you!” Yazo swung at the approaching mass, but he was unable to reach it.

  “Better to suffocate! You don't have much time, do it now!” yelled Bars even louder.

  The sticky mass stopped about a meter from the writhing suit. The shell of the slug lifted up and from underneath came a black tentacle with an opening on the end. It shot a strong stream of ooze, which covered the whole suit.

  “No! No!” the horror in Yazo's voice was terrifying.

  Bars and Thirteen watched in desperation as their friend slowly stopped writhing as the black ooze tightened its grip on his suit. The armored slug shot one more stream that stopped Yazo's resistance completely. Under the thick layer of drying glue his hysterical voice, calling for help, could still be heard.

  “I can't watch this anymore!” said Thirteen disgusted and turned his back.

  Bars didn't take his eyes off the slug, who stuck out another tentacle from underneath its shell, this tentacle had a sharp end. When it had neared the convulsed Shell of their friend, it succeeded in sticking its sinister growth deep inside and it began to feed. The semi-transparent body of the swamp slug began to fill with parts of the still living boy.

  Without saying a word, Bars turned and walked away in the orange-colored mud, followed by his only remaining friend.

  The only thing they left behind them in the fog were Yazo's horrible screams.

  Chapter 16